Palmetto principal transferred after investigation finds she could’ve hurt disabled boy
Palmetto Elementary School’s principal, Michelle Mealor, won’t be returning to school — at least for the time being.
An internal investigation by the School District of Manatee County, obtained by the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday afternoon, concluded that Mealor might have harmed a student with autism when she lifted his chair and sent him to the ground.
“I do not believe there was any intent by Dr. Mealor to cause harm” to the student, district investigator Troy Nelson reported.
“However, Dr. Mealor’s actions placed her in a situation where harm could have occurred to the child” and potentially put her in violation of state and local ethical standards for educators and the Florida Administrative Code, according to Nelson.
Child abuse investigators found ‘threatened harm’
The Palmetto Police Department investigated child abuse allegations against Mealor and declined to pursue criminal charges. County child protection investigators concluded a separate investigation that found no physical abuse had taken place.
However, the child abuse investigators did verify “a finding of threatened harm,” according to Nelson’s report.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, which handles all child welfare cases in Manatee County for the Florida Department of Children and Families, did not disclose this finding to the Bradenton Herald during multiple inquiries but merely claimed the allegation was determined to be unfounded.
Principal now has no contact with students
Mealor is now working in the district’s curriculum department — away from children — as a “principal on assignment,” pending a separate review by the Florida Department of Education, according to district spokesman Mike Barber. The district will decide how to move forward once the state issues its findings.
Mealor was removed from the school and placed on paid leave after the Nov. 1 incident was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families child abuse hotline on Nov. 4.
Witnesses recounted an incident in which the student became irate and flipped desks and hurled insults at school employees. Two witnesses said that Mealor tipped the student’s chair forward after he sat down, in an attempt to make him stand and pick up the overturned desks. Mealor’s actions caused him to fall on his knees.
Principal describes what happened with student
Mealor confirmed what happened in an interview with Nelson and outside authorities.
“Dr. Mealor told him he could sit down if he picked up the desks and chairs he had overturned,” Nelson wrote, summarizing his interview with the principal. “He complained about not being able to do this because of his surgery and pulled his shorts down to expose his scar. She told him he was fine to pick the chairs and desks up that he had overturned.”
The boy walked by as if he was going to do as he was told, Mealor told Nelson, but instead he sat down.
“Dr. Mealor said she then told him no that was not what he needed to do and tilted the back of the chair to stand him up,” the report continues. “She said he then dropped down onto the floor and grabbed the desk legs with his hands.”
However, two other witnesses said the principal “thrust” or “flipped” the student out of the chair, causing him to smack his head and lay in the fetal position, crying until his grandmother arrived.
“He was screaming at them to get away and to get out of his bubble,” Nelson reported, recounting his interview with a teacher’s aide. “(The student) walked over to sit down in a chair and Dr. Mealor picked up the back of the chair and thrust him out of it. (He) hit his head on a black cabinet and fell onto the ground crying.”
Principal denies laughing at disabled student
In his statement to investigators, the student said he was unharmed after the incident, and that he “caught himself with his hands on the legs of his overturned desk,” the district’s report states.
“The witness account and perception of this incident vary greatly,” Nelson wrote.
The conflicting statements were problematic in the police investigation. Even when a criminal charge of culpable negligence was considered, police still said they lacked probable cause for an arrest.
Witnesses also gave conflicting statements about a verbal exchange between Mealor and the boy.
According to a substitute teacher and a teacher’s aide, the boy had told Mealor she was a “fat, ugly (expletive)“ to which she responded with, “Have you looked in the mirror.”
When Nelson questioned her about this exchange, Mealor said she had responded “with a comment about him needing to look in a mirror regarding how ugly his behavior was being, not necessarily referring to (the student) as being physically ugly.”
During the about 45 to 60 minutes it took for the boy’s grandmother to arrive, the teacher and aide also claimed that Mealor and other staffers were laughing as they whispered among themselves. But Mealor said she and the other staffers were talking about other things and laughing about them in an effort to deescalate the situation. They claimed they were not laughing at the boy or the situation.
“However, it is understandable for a witness to perceive these actions as inappropriate or as laughing at the student,” Nelson concluded.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 6:22 PM.
